The experience of trauma can have profound effects on individuals' psychological wellbeing, including their ability to form secure attachments and trusting relationships.
Research has suggested that these negative impacts may be particularly pronounced for military couples who face high levels of trauma exposure during deployment. This article explores how such exposure can impact attachment security, relational trust, and sexual satisfaction in military couples.
Attachment Security
One key area where repeated trauma exposure can take a toll is in interpersonal relationships. Military couples are subjected to multiple deployments throughout their careers, which can lead to significant levels of separation anxiety and distress. These separations often strain relationships, causing partners to feel uncertain about each other's commitment and stability.
The stress of deployment can make it difficult for individuals to regulate their emotions, leading them to lash out or become withdrawn in their interactions. Such behavior can erode feelings of safety and intimacy within the relationship, undermining attachment security.
Traumatic events experienced during deployment can lead to changes in communication patterns, making it challenging for partners to understand one another's needs and desires. This disconnection can further exacerbate attachment insecurities, as partners feel less confident in their partner's availability and reliability.
If a soldier experiences combat-related PTSD, they may become hypervigilant and irritable, creating tension and conflict in the relationship (Snyder et al., 2019). The resulting uncertainty and mistrust can have lasting effects on the couple's ability to form secure attachments.
Relational Trust
The experience of repeated trauma exposure can also undermine relational trust between military couples. When individuals face high levels of stress and threat, they may become more cautious and defensive in their relationships, leading to increased conflict and withdrawal. In addition, traumatic events may cause individuals to question their partner's loyalty and support, fostering feelings of betrayal and mistrust. As a result, partners may become more guarded and distant, making it difficult to establish a sense of closeness and mutuality.
Military spouses may also struggle with feelings of abandonment and rejection when their partner returns from deployment. They may worry that their partner has changed or grown emotionally distant due to their experiences, leading them to become overly vigilant and suspicious. These concerns can erode trust, creating a cycle of distrust and negative interaction patterns that can be hard to break.
Sexual Satisfaction
Repeated trauma exposure can impact sexual satisfaction in military couples by disrupting intimacy and arousal. Traumatic events can cause individuals to feel anxious and fearful, making it challenging for them to engage in physical intimacy with their partner.
Some military couples report experiencing changes in libido and desire following trauma exposure (Snyder et al., 2019). This loss of interest in sex can further strain the relationship, as partners may feel rejected and unloved.
Trauma-related symptoms such as hyperarousal, anxiety, and depression can make it difficult for individuals to achieve orgasm or enjoy pleasure during sex (McNulty & Coxe, 2014). Such difficulties can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction, causing partners to withdraw from one another and avoid intimate contact.
This pattern can create a sense of emotional distance between partners, eroding their ability to connect through shared sexual experiences.
Repeated trauma exposure can have profound effects on attachment security, relational trust, and sexual satisfaction in military couples. The stress and threat associated with deployment can undermine feelings of safety, reliability, and commitment within relationships, leading to increased conflict and mistrust. These negative effects can persist even after the traumatic event has ended, creating lasting harm to interpersonal bonds and wellbeing.
How does repeated exposure to traumatic events impact attachment security, relational trust, and sexual satisfaction in military couples?
Trauma is commonly associated with fear and avoidance behaviors that can impede social bonding. Exposure to traumatic events has been found to disrupt attachment security by triggering survival responses such as hyperarousal and withdrawal (Brown et al. , 2016). This may make it challenging for individuals to form secure attachments with others because they may be preoccupied with threats and unable to regulate their emotions effectively.